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Strange But True

Skiing in the Desert
Would you like to go skiing in summer? In the desert? Dubai is bringing in more than 400 tons of snow and ice to attract visitors to the Gulf Arab emirate. (Sport, tourism, using "Would you like to...")Elementary

Strange Stories
Foxes shooting people, dogs shooting people and cows shooting cows. Confused? You won't be after this next lesson from English-to-go. (guns, accidents, articles)Pre-Intermediate

Coffins
A firm of undertakers in Ireland is hiring out hardwood coffins to meet growing demands to cut funeral costs and spare precious timber. (Funerals, death, belief, obituaries, the use of "since".) Please Note: This lesson looks at funeral practices and rites. Please think about your students' cultural backgrounds before choosing this lesson. The lesson also raises questions about death and what happens to people after they die.Intermediate

Giving Up
A man who camped alone in the Australian outback for six months after driving off in a fire truck said on Friday he hadn't been looking for enlightenment but was simply trying to give up smoking. Well if it works .....
(smoking, addiction, the Australian desert, linking words)
Pre-Intermediate

Fish and Chimneys
Father Christmas is not alone. Read about this amazing survival story and unusual weather. (Strange stories, birds, fish, revision of verbs in the past simple)
Pre-Intermediate

A Very Old Post Card
A postcard that took 112 years to get from Brisbane to Scotland has been sent back to Australia to be reunited with the granddaughter of the man who wrote it! (Parts of speech - nouns as verbs)Elementary

A Burglar's Finger
Police who were investigating a burglary in southeast Spain found more than just fingerprints to help them. (Crime, Spain, fingerprints, the use of articles)
Elementary

Winning and Losing
A British couple bought a lottery ticket. The ticket won millions of pounds, but they had lost the ticket. They could prove they had bought the ticket, but the lottery company said that the rules said that no ticket means no prize. However, the company did pay for professional counseling for the couple. (Justice, fairness, rules, winning money, the uses of the present perfect.)Upper-Intermediate to Advanced

Court Punishments
A 74-year-old grandmother to sew a quilt for charity in lieu of serving jail time. You be the judge. (Law courts, punishments, judges, crime, old age, age as an adjective.)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate

Animal Friends
A dolphin who saves people and a legal battle to possibly save a dog. (Animals, DNA testing)
Pre-Intermediate

A Long Goodbye
85 years after it was thrown into the sea, the goodbye mesage in a bottle was found.
(Amazing stories, love, messages in a bottle, word order)
Pre-Intermediate

A Lost Pet
Residents were warned to tread carefully as police and zoo officials were on the hunt for a deadly, runaway viper.
(Snakes, keeping dangerous pets, Canada, word order)
Upper-Intermediate

Heavy Metal Music
Two New Zealand pensioners were surprised to find themselves surrounded by 1,500 head banging heavy metallers at a concert by Dallas heavy metal group Pantera after winning concert tickets in a newspaper competition. (Music, age, language describing ages.)Pre-Intermediate

Not Music To My Ears
An Australian shopping center has found a novel way to deter teenage loiterers -- playing loud Bing Crosby music. (Teenagers, Bing Crosby, music, Australian slang)
Intermediate

Highland Decision
It has all the ingredients for a Hollywood hit: money, animosity, a craggy clan chief and a cabal of conservationists out to save the Scottish highlands. What is it?
(Conservation, traditional rights, mountains, Scotland)
Upper-Intermediate

The Best!
This lesson has two news stories. One about how a Mexican great-great grandmother and athlete, who holds numerous gold medals for long distance running, celebrated her 90th birthday, vowing to break more records. The other article is about where the hottest chili on earth is grown! (Old athlete, chili)
Pre-Intermediate